


The baby that could apparate

by Go_get_Jakes_gun



Series: Babies don't apparate… right? [1]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Babies, Don't Read This, F/M, Heartbreak, I'm pretty sure she has parents, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Male Lactation, Oneshot, Percy wants 'Percy' to be her first word, Swearing, a baby made them do it, adorable goofballs, but it won't be, horrible cliche, horrible plot, horrible writing, really bad, seriously cliched, they just never show up, they're such a cute couple tbh, uhhh, what even does one do with tags in a oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 11:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11462628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go_get_Jakes_gun/pseuds/Go_get_Jakes_gun
Summary: Newt Scamander expected a lot of things to go wrong for him following the capture of Grindelwald at his beasts' hands. One thing he did not expect, however, was to find a baby i his parents' garden. A baby that was most definitely NOT british.





	The baby that could apparate

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry in advance!

Newt frowned, looking down at the earth before him. He was visiting his family for new year’s and to celebrate his return from New York, and was taking a stroll through their rather large estate’s garden when he spotted a baby in the shrubbery. Bending low he picked it up.

 

He’d never seen the child before, and given that they had no human servants- just the three house elves- he doubted it was anyone on the manor’s child.

 

He walked into the house, weighing in all of the likely reasons why the child- who was in his arms, mercifully asleep, would be here of all places.

 

“Newt!” His mother called. “Darling, is that you? I hope you have a coat on because it is _freezing_ outside and- what’s that in your arms? Is it a new creature?” she smiled, though Newt knew she wasn’t _actually_ fond of his career.

 

Yes, he’d caught her talking to his father about how it was ‘far too dangerous’ and how it ‘didn’t even pay well!’

 

Well, she wasn’t _wrong_ but he didn’t care. He loved working with animals.

 

“Ummm,” no, at least he knew how to take care of baby animals, children were a mystery.

 

Her eyes widened. “Newt, is that- is… oh my goodness,” she gasped. “Newt! You didn’t tell us you’d gotten pregnant!” _what?_ “Dear, you’ve been home for three days, don’t tell me that you left her with in your case unattended whilst you spent time with us!”

 

“Mom,” Newt groaned. “First of all it,” wait, he quickly pulled the front of the baby’s pants so he could get a look. Damn, how had his mom known? “Er, _she_ , isn’t mine! I just found her in the garden whilst I was taking a walk.”

 

“Oh,” his mom deflated. What the fuck!? He wasn’t married and she knew that because he didn’t have a band on his finger. Was she just hoping that he’d met someone on one of his travels who’d knocked him up randomly and now he had to take care of a child on his- wait a second, why did she assume _he_ would be knocked up? He was just as capable of fathering the child as any other witch or wizard! “Could she be Theseus’s?”

 

Goodness, what on earth was wrong with his mother today? Or was she always like this and he just hadn’t noticed?

 

“No!” he hissed. “Her magic must have malfunctioned, babies’ magic can be quite unstable, she probably apparated here by accident!”

 

“Oh,” seriously now.

 

“This is awful,” he fussed, rocking her. “Her family must be worried sick. I do hope-”

 

“Newt, where’ve you- oh, cute baby- wait a second, YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE PREGNANT!” Fuck, it was Theseus. Wait, did he just say… oh gods, not again.

 

“It’s- _she’s_ not mine, she’s probably not even supposed to be here, you know how unstable young wizards’ magic is!” Newt cried out. “And why do you both just _assume_ that when I have a child I’ll be the one pregnant with him or her!?”

 

His mother and Theseus stared at him. He wanted to punch his brother as he watched him raise an eyebrow, but he was holding this baby and he didn’t want her to fall.

 

“Look, we need to find out where she’s from and return her fast. Her family must be worried sick.”

 

“Relax, dear,” his mother smiled. “A simple source charm should do the trick.”

 

“Source charm?”

 

“Yeah,” Theseus nodded. “We used them during and after the war with war prisoners and obliviated muggles. Hand her over.”

 

Newt obliged and Theseus cast the spell. Above the baby’s head, in fiery letters, an address spelled out.

 

_32 Abbott Avenue, Trenton, New Jersey, USA._

 

Newt, his mother and Theseus paled. The baby woke up and glanced at the fiery letters above. She let out a squeal and made grabby motions for letters, her face scrunching up when the letters dissipated.

 

Newt rushed to lift her in his arms before she cried. “Come on,” he said. He figured she was about half a year old? Five months? He ought to find her something to drink…

 

“I think someone might want pudding,” he smiled down at her.

 

“Newt,” his mother frowned. “We don’t know how old she is, but she’s probably too young to be fed pudding. Plus, it’s bad for their teeth.”

 

“Alright,” Theseus nodded. “Then we’ll get her some Similac.”

 

Their mother made an offended noise. “That shit?” Newt covered the baby’s ears. His mother wasn’t exactly known for her polite language. “That’s rubbish for babies! She needs breast milk!”

 

“We don’t have any lactating women,” Newt pointed out.

 

His mother looked at him thoughtfully, and he frowned in confusion until he realized that she was staring at his chest.

 

“Oh _hell_ no!” he exclaimed, using the young child to cover himself up where he felt most exposed. Seriously, did this happen to all women over 50? Did they just become weird perverts or was that more of a Judith Scamander thing?

 

Theseus seemed to finally catch on and threw his head back laughing.

 

She rolled her eyes. “Fine then, I’ll do it you wuss,” she was drunk. She had to be drunk. She took the baby. “Now, what’re we going to call you?”

 

“Nothing, she has a family and that family already gave her a name.”

 

Once more his mothers’ eyes rolled. “Fine then, clearly _someone_ is incapable of having any fun whatsoever!” she strolled off, humming something along the lines of ‘My dear, sweet Nathalie,’ and Newt grimaced. That was the name his mother had chosen for him due to an unwillingness to know the baby’s gender yet a surprising certainty that it would be a girl.

 

“How do we get her back home, then? Are you going to take a portkey to the States?”

 

“Newt,” Theseus admonished. “You do _not_ send a child through a portkey, and besides _you're_ the one taking her.”

 

“Me!? Why me!? I just got back from the States!”

 

“Exactly, you can see all your friends again! Besides,” Theseus took a shaky breath, “Grindelwald’s got us on our toes and as Head of the Division of Magical Law Enforcement I can’t just up and leave in the middle of a crisis like this. He’s escaped from MACUSA and he knows you live here. We’ll be getting a Fidelius Charm done on our apartment soon, but for now you’re safest abroad.”

 

Newt stared at his brother at a loss for words. He knew that the man was right, however. He would have to be the one to take the child back. It would be one gigantic mess if his mother did it and his father couldn’t just abandon his teaching duties at Hogwarts now could he?

 

Plus, aside from his brother he was the only one in his family that knew people from the States and it meant that he’d get to see Tina again! He’d helped them find the real Graves before he left back to England and was sure that Theseus would beg him to check up on the man.

OK. He’d do it then.

.

 

His mother had reluctantly agreed to let Newt feed the baby Similac for the trip to the states. He looked at the small child, shouldn’t need more than a tin, he figured, the trip would take four days after all.

 

.

 

Newt gritted his teeth. It had been six days, the ship had to dock for a bit waiting for a storm to pass. He had run out of baby food and they still had a significant portion of the trip up ahead.

 

He decided, casting a spell on himself, that Theseus would _never_ hear about what he had to do to feed the child. _Never_.

.

 

He nearly cried when he made it to New York, his chest had been killing him and he could finally give Natha- no… his mother would not win this, the baby had no name, that’s what made it so easy to give her up.

 

Theseus had told him to take the baby to MACUSA and that they would send the baby on her way back to her family- but… he hesitated, what if the child was muggleborn? There was no way that MACUSA would give the child back to her parents, they’d probably put her in the foster care system. He couldn’t let that happen! His poor- fuck. This child was not his, he hated the hormones racing through him at the moment, and he couldn’t wait for the lactation charm to wear off.

 

He’d sent an owl to Theseus the previous night informing him that he’d be arriving that day so that he could alert MACUSA about Newt’s visit before ‘New York 2- The ultimate death match’ happened.

 

He carried the baby in one arm as he exited customs, his other arm carrying his suitcase. He hadn’t told his friends about his visit yet, hoping to surprise them. Hoping to surprise _her_.

 

So imagine his horror when he walks into Jacob’s bakery and finds her having coffee with another bloke… a tall, handsome guy, but still someone else.

 

His heart filled with pain. Of course she liked the other guy more… he was more handsome than Newt, probably smarter too… no doubt funnier given how much Tina was laughing.

 

Her eyes widened when she noticed him and she stood up. She ran at him and gave him a hug, minding Natha- dammit.

 

“Newt! Who's this?” she smiled at the baby.

 

Before he could answer, the man had stood up and was in front of him.

 

“Newton Scamander?” he smiled in greeting, “It’s a great pleasure meeting you. You’re a hero to the entire Auror department, you got several of us out of positions that Grindelwald had put us in to keep his plans more hush-” his voice trailed off. “Is that- is that _Millie?_ ”

 

Newt blinked. Millie? Who was that? And then he saw the man staring at the child. Oh, as if it wasn’t enough that the man had to take away the woman of his dreams, he was _also_ about to take away Newt’s baby- _dammit! She wasn’t **fucking** his!!!_

 

“How’d you find her?”

 

“She’d apparated to our garden. My brother cast a tracking spell on her and found out that she lived around here.”

 

“Oh, Percy’s gonna be so stoked! He’s been worried sick thinking Grindelwald took her as some form of revenge or something!”

 

Percy? Was this man close to the Director?

 

Tina coughed. “Well, since you seem so keen on getting Millie to MACUSA, Newt, I would like to introduce you to Luke, my boyfriend,” way to rub it in, Tina. “Luke, I want to introduce you to one of my closest friends, Newt.”

 

“Tina, we already introduced ourselves,” Lucas groaned.

 

“No, you knew who Newt was, but you never gave him your name.”

 

“Oh, right. My bad, sorry, Newt. But we seriously have to get her to Percy.”

 

Why? From what little Newt knew about the DMS, Graves had no children, no wife. Why was the man so worried about this child that was… that was sleeping in his arms… so softly… so cute- urgh, snap out of it!

 

“Alright,” Newt nodded, “Let’s go.”

 

.

 

Newt had heard many stories of Percival Graves via his brother and other sources. He’d assumed that Grindel!Graves had to match up pretty closely to Graves’s personality given that no one had noticed the difference between the two, and yet when he’d met the _actual_ man first he’d seen a vulnerable person who’d spent months under a psychopath’s care. But Director Graves had been unconscious then.

 

When his brother talked about him he described a powerful, strong wizard with a pretty good sense of humor.

 

When Tina described him she talked about this cold, stone-faced man that scared the crap out of her and everyone else.

 

Queenie liked him. But then again, Queenie liked almost everyone, so that wasn’t much to go on.

 

Newt didn’t really know what to expect, but the second he walked through the door and Graves looked up, he saw a side to the man that Newt didn’t know could exist.

 

“Oh my gods,” Graves- who had bags under his red eyes and was slowly developing a beard on what he knew was supposed to be a clean shaven face from various pictures- looked like he was about to cry. “You found her! Thank you so much, Mr….?”

 

“Scamander,” Newt smiled softly, handing over the child.

 

“Scamander? As in Theseus’s younger brother, Newt? The man who found me?” a small smile played on Graves’s lips as Newt blushed. “I suppose I ought to thank you for that as well, and for saving MACUSA from being taken over by that mad man. You truly are a godsend!”

 

Newt blushed. _Fuck_. People rarely ever expressed gratitude towards him save for his family, this was so weird.

 

“I-It’s alright.” Newt said, shyly. “I-I’m just glad you’re safe.”

 

“No- no no no, this isn’t a proper thank you, I have to take you out to dinner!”

 

“What?” OK, _this_ was weird.

 

“You found my niece, you saved my life and you rescued MACUSA from Grindelwald, it’s the least I can do, really. Are you staying anywhere? I have a spare room if you need one.”

 

Damn, this man was just- mmm. He felt uncomfortable with the ‘thank you’ this was just _way_ too much.

 

“M-Mr. Graves, please, I don’t want to bother you-”

 

“Please, call me Percival, you’ve saved my life for crying out loud. And it’s no bother at all, Newt,” for some reason, the way that the man said his name sent an involuntary shiver up his spine. “Please, just the one dinner? That’s all I’m asking.”

 

And somehow, despite himself, Newt found himself agreeing to the arrangement with a slow nod of his traitorous head. “O-OK. What time?”

 

“Are you free at seven?”

 

“Seven’s p-p-perfect.”

 

“Fantastic. I’ll pick you up.”

 

“You-you don’t know where I’m staying.”

 

“I’ll find out,” the man winked and Newt found himself staring at him in disbelief, this man… this man was just something else.

.

 

To his surprise, Graves did stay true to his word.

 

“Alright, I give up. How did you find me?” he said, exasperated and honestly too tired to give a shit.

 

“A magician never reveals his secret,” Graves smirked and Newt rolled his eyes. Oh my goodness, could this man get any more cocky. But that was when he noticed ‘Millie’ was in his arms. She was wearing a small, baby coat with a little hat and a little scarf. She looked so cute!

 

Graves seemed to notice him staring. “Oh, well you can’t apparate with a baby, obviously, and Margie and I decided we didn’t want to risk Flooing either, so they’re coming by car to pick her up.”

 

“Oh. A-Alright,” Newt smiled. Fuck, if he were to spend another night with the baby he might lose it when he lost her _again_.

 

“C’mon then, we’re going to eat at Marty’s, Theseus tells me you like Thai food.”

 

He almost lost it. Theseus knew he was ~~on a date~~ with Percival!? Wait… why did he think that? This-this wasn’t a date, this was just Graves thanking him for no apparent reason.

 

“A-a-alright, then,” dammit, his stuttering was back.

.

 

“How old is she, anyways?” Newt was dying to know as they waited on their order.

 

“Ten months.”

 

“Wait- _what_!?” she was _way_ too small to be 10 months old.

 

“She was born… a little on the small side,” Graves grimaced, bouncing the baby in his lap. The restaurant had given them a highchair, but he worried that she might be a little too small and hurt herself, or worse, she might apparate away again. Plus, he missed the little infant, she was currently his youngest niece or nephew.

 

“That’s awful.”

 

Graved nodded his head in agreement.

 

“So, is she an only child?”

“No, she has an older brother, Samuel.”

 

“How old is he?”

 

“Seven.”

 

“That’s sweet, she’ll have an overprotective older brother when she grows up.”

 

“She already has one. And three overprotective cousins to boot, alongside every single one of her uncles and aunts and grandparents and her father. Poor lamb, the only one even remotely willing to watch her leave the nest one day and grow up is her mother, because Margie went through the same thing.”

 

“Why don’t you want her to leave the nest?”

 

“Well,” Percival blushed. “She’s mine.”

 

“Isn’t she your niece?”

 

“Yes, but she’s still mine.”

 

The conversation went on for a bit. Newt and Graves chatting about their families, the food mostly forgotten until the waiter came back to ‘casually’ mention that they were closing.

 

Newt and Graves both fought valiantly for the bill, and as this was a wizarding establishment they were able to use spells, but as it turned out, Graves was just the _slightest_ bit better at wandless magic ~~(Yeah right, Newt just didn’t want to hurt Millie)~~ and after casting a full body bind on Newt, settled the bill with a smile on his face, un-petrified the man and stood up.

 

“Come, all that eating’s got my belly aching. Let’s go on a walk.”

 

“Won’t your sister be back soon?”

 

“I doubt she’ll arrive before midnight, they’re not rushing or anything. They might if the baby was found by Theodore, but they’re used to me babysitting.”

 

.

 

New York was magnificent in the night time, he hadn’t gotten to enjoy it that much when he was running around its streets chasing after his creatures, but now… with slightly cold air nipping at his hands, snow having finished falling weeks ago, Percival at his sid- wait.

 

No. No _nonono_ … No. The man had wanted to thank him, had done so, and he’d likely never see the man again unless he was visiting friends or if Graves ever came up to England to visit Theseus. This was where it ended.

 

“How long are you going to be here, in New York, that is?”

 

“Well, I’ve got to get back home soon, so I’m leaving on Wednesday.” Four days from now.

 

“Oh. Are you free tomorrow night then? I’d love to hear more about your creatures.”

 

Was that sarcasm? It didn’t sound like sarcasm, but then again, when had anyone ever asked him to talk about his creatures and _meant_ it?

 

Just in case… “Sure.”

 

“Great, it’s a date then!”

 

“Uhhh…” wait, what did he mean by that? Did he mean a date date, or date as in the day was set?

 

“I’ll see you,” Percival beamed and Newt blinked. How on earth had they managed to walk to Jacob’s shop? He shook his head, this was weird, but… but not in an unpleasant way…

.

 

“I’m thinking about proposing to her,” Jacob confessed, Newt nearly spat out his tea.

 

“Wait, what? Propose? Who?” Surely not Queenie, the two had only known each other for six weeks!

 

“Queenie,” Jacob said, as though it were obvious. “It’s just, I know you guys don’t let us marry magic-fold here, but… but for Queenie I’m willing to move somewhere else.”

 

Newt blinked. “Are-are you sure, Jacob? The two of you have both spent your lives here, and relocating is never easy. Plus, you’ve only known each other six weeks, maybe give it another month or two before you ask?”

 

“I know, I know, it seems stupid,” Jacob looked disappointed. “And besides, I was getting ahead of myself, there’s no way a girl like her could possibly want to settle down with a guy like me.”

 

“Hey, hey,” Newt cupped Jacob’s face and stared into his friends’ eyes. “Queenie _loves_ you, and there’s no doubt in my mind that she’d say yes if you asked, but marriage is a _huge_ deal, all I’m asking is that you take a little time before making your decision.”

 

“Alright.”

.

 

“Hello, Percival,” Newt frowned. Millie was still there. Why was Millie still there?

 

“Oh,” Graves seemed to notice Newt staring. “They couldn’t make it, Sammy got a cold.”

 

Alright. It wasn’t as though he minded the child… in fact, having Millie with them was almost soothing. He enjoyed the presence of the baby, but for some odd reason he felt pain when he saw her. He didn’t know what it was, there was just something about the child that made his heart hurt.

 

“Where are we going?” Newt frowned, the last time they’d taken a right, but today they were taking a left.

 

“To Central Park. You’ll love it, it’s magnificent at this time of night, just trust me.”

 

They headed to the area in question and Newt had to admit, Graves was right. It was… quiet, the stars were out. There were some couples having late-night picnics, he could see a few groups of friends, some vendors selling food.

 

Graves led him to a bench and told him to wait there, placing Millie in his arms. He came back ten minutes later with a hot dog in each hand.

 

They ate and chatted. Graves asked Newt how his book was coming along, Newt said it was almost done. Newt asked Graves about his family, which lead to yet _another_ hilarious story.

 

_“I swear, they follow Bobby around like lemmings! Naomi likes to sit with us, so she can’t stop the chaos her brother gets the others into.” He grinned. “Like last month, when he managed to convince them to target a doxy nest. He got an earful from Nao for that.”_

Newt even obliged Percival’s request to divulge some of his own childhood stories.

 

_“But then mum came out of no where and she was screaming at us but we were just so happy that we weren’t lost so we ran up to her and hugged her legs- except I wasn’t really all that tall so I was mostly hugging her knee- and we burst into tears and told her we loved her and she just stood there blinking at us. Thank gods she didn’t ask us what had happened or our punishment would have been a lot more worse than a time out.”_

 

They'd laughed and joked and talked about politics. Graves had watched in utter fascination at the way in which Newt handled Millie, the baby squeaking in his arms and clapping her little hands.

 

“Can she walk?”

 

“I’m afraid not yet. But her pediatrician’s recommended that we switch her over to soya milk and ever since the change she’s been crawling pretty well, she may even be able to walk soon.”

 

“She drinks soya milk?”

 

“Yeah, of course.”

 

Holy fuck. Here he was, slightly cold, with a slightly sore chest that _still_ produced milk and had a few bruises because _damn_ that little baby sucked hard… and the baby drank _soya_ milk!?

 

“Why, what did you feed her?” Graves asked.

 

“Oh… you know, Similac,” he tried to sound casual.

 

“Oh, Millie loves that stuff,” Graves rolled his eyes, “Timmothy got her hooked on the stuff and Margie’s still mad about it.”

 

Newt nodded. From what he gathered, Timmothy was Millie’s father and- if intonation was anything to go by- he supposed that Mr. Graves’s relationship with his brother-in-law was rather strained.

 

“Thank goodness, I worried I was getting her onto something she wasn’t supposed to have,” Fuck. You. Mom.

 

“No, not at all,” Graves flashed one of his trademark grins that Newt supposed was rather attractive- to other people that was, of course, but not to Newt whom Graves had invited along as a _friend_.

 

.

 

“So,” they walked back in the moonlight. “How free are you tomorrow?”

 

“Ummm…” Graves’s smile faltered.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I understand that you’re only in the States for a short bit and probably would like to catch up with your friends.”

 

“No, no, not at all, I was just wondering why.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well, first it was to thank me for no apparent reason, then it was to ask about magical creatures- of which I’ve told you all that I know.”

 

“Maybe I just like spending time with you?”

 

Newt almost laughed. That was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. No one liked spending time with him. Somehow he managed to keep it together long enough to answer.

 

“Yeah right.”

 

“I’m serious Newt, I do,” Graves frowned. “What’s wrong with that?”

 

Newt flushed. He didn’t have an answer that would make this less awkward, so he decided to terminate it the best way he knew how.

 

“Nothing, I guess. I like spending time with you too,” it wasn’t like he was lying.

 

Graves seemed to visibly relax. “Thank you.”

 

.

 

Newt stared at Millie. Did her parents hate her or something? Seriously, he’d thought they'd be eager to get her back, but clearly he’d been mistaken.

 

The baby was mouthing on Percival’s jacket. It was cute, and Newt had to suppress the urge to kiss both of… wait… wait, he was pretty sure he’d thought about this, and the answer was no. Besides, there was no way he was ready to move on after Tina. Not yet.

 

Graves and Newt ended up strolling around New York once more. Newt had already gone a few places with Jacob and Queenie, and Tina had taken the day off to take him out to lunch and apparate him to various places- his heart breaking each time she laughed, knowing that would never be his.

 

“You should consider moving to New York,” Graves commented, “MACUSA could do with someone like you. I must admit that our current system of dealing with magical beasts is a little… archaic, so to speak.”

 

“You mean disposing of them,” Newt tried his best to not let any venom emanate in his voice.

 

“Correct,” Graves nodded. “Of course, if you do consider, I trust you’ll do me a favor and not tell Theseus I’m the one who pitched it?”

 

Newt smiled. “Maybe, maybe not?” he said, playfully. ~~Gods almighty what was wrong with him.~~

 

“Why not?” Graves asked, pretending to be hurt.

 

“Well, it depends on what he thinks. If he approves I’ll tell him it was my idea, if not, then I'm sorry but I can’t bear my brother’s eternal disapproval.” Newt joked.

 

Graves let out a laugh. “Seriously though, don’t worry. I won’t tell him,” Newt smiled genuinely.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“So, where’re we headed?”

 

“To the beach.”

 

“Oh,” Newt blinked, “That’s quite a long distance from here.”

 

“I know, that’s why we’re going to apparate.”

 

Newt blanched. “Wait, what about Millie?”

 

“Can I trust you to keep a secret?”

 

“Always,” fuck, why did he say something dumb like that. _Gah_. Now Graves was going to know- wait. Did he have feelings for Mr. Graves? No ways! Impossible! Nu _uh_! He was probably just emotionally spent over Tina.

 

“I apparate with her all the time,” Newt’s jaw dropped. “Seriously. She _loves_ it, but Margie doesn’t know about it.”

 

“Um, I don’t know…”

 

“Please, Newt,” again with that smile ~~that made Newt weak at the knees~~ , “Just trust me.”

 

“Al-alright.”

 

Newt’s heart fluttered as Graves took his hand, something the older man had never done before. The closest they’d come to this was when Newt handed Millie to him and their hands grazed and when the man had handed him a hotdog, but this was a whole new level of intimacy.

 

The world around them warped and twisted into dull lights. The horrible sensation he usually got when side-long apparating not there. He stood, a little wobbly, Graves using his spare arm to catch him to his chest, steadying him and stepping away.

 

Newt blushed. “Um, th-thank you, uh, Mr. Graves.”

 

“Per- _ci_ -Val,” Graves groaned, bouncing Millie up a little higher as the baby had begun to slip.

 

“Pububaba,” she smiled.

 

Graves groaned. “Urgh, so close, I’ve been trying to make sure that her first words are Percival or at least Percy.”

 

“Your name might be a bit hard for her to get out,” Newt pointed out.

 

“Maybe, but I’m still going to give it my all,” he said, his face turning stone-like, the cheery baby in his arms. Newt laughed.

 

“Maybe if we said your name all night, she’d say it?”

 

Graves’s eyes brightened. “We could try.”

 

And that summed up how the two men spent the rest of their night. By the waves, yelling out ‘Percival’ and ‘Percy’ respectively, laughing and ignoring all the people who stared at them disapprovingly and in confusion. Millie didn’t seem to mind and they laughed and walked and when they got tired of clowning around (an adjective that Newt would _never **ever**_ have attributed to Percival Graves of all people) they talked about whatever. Graves asked Newt how Theseus was doing and Newt asked Graves more about his family.

 

Graves found a particularly pretty shell and picked it up. Millie reached for it demandingly so he let her have it. She mouthed on it and Newt watched as Graves tried to take it away from her, but the baby seemed to have a steel-like-grip on the thing because after a while he simply gave up.

 

“She’s ridiculously strong. I hope she maintains it, it’ll make it easier to chase off boys and girls if she breaks their arms whilst greeting them.”

 

Newt let out a laugh. In the pale glow of the moon Graves’s smile looked almost magical and-urgh, no. No. Theseus would never stop teasing him about this if he were here. Manly thoughts, cavemen, wrestling, duels, Millie, Graves’s smile- gah.

 

Werewolves, Nundus, when was the last time he had… no. No. Let’s try that again. Werewolves, Nundus, Erumpets, Theseus, Theseus, Theseus, Theseus… good to know his brother always had his back.

 

“Well, _Newton_ ,” Graves practically purred, and Newt felt a shiver run up his spine, “I suppose it’s time to call it a night.”

 

He apparated them back in front of Jacob’s bakery. Graves nodded, turning to leave when he did something weird. He took Newt’s hand, leaned down, and pressed a gentle kiss to it. Newt blushed like crazy, but before he could speak the man was gone.

 

.

 

Newt was leaving the next day. His friends had taken him out to lunch and he was spending dinner with Graves. Millie slept soundly in a cot near them. Oh, right. He was in Graves’s apartment. At night. For dinner. That Graves made.

 

No, he had to remind himself. Graves merely thought of him as a friend and was expressing gratitude that he had returned Millie, obviously. Plus there was no way that Graves was anything other than straight. He was so… so _tough_ , so butch ~~(maybe he was overcompensating?)~~

 

“I must say, I will miss you,” Graves almost looked sad, the one emotion that Newt had never seen on his face.

 

“Me too.”

 

“You should seriously consider moving here,” he commented. “MACUSA could use people like you.”

 

“Why? They have people like you,” Newt pointed out. Seriously, what could he offer the States that Graves couldn’t.

 

“That’s the problem,” Graves smiled ruefully.

 

Newt frowned, lost, but didn’t press. If he was being entirely honest the entire topic had begun to make him feel rather uncomfortable. “So, your sister and her husband are coming to pick Millie up this weekend, right?”

 

“Yeah, I’m gonna miss her.”

 

“Me too,” Newt nodded. “It’s going to be hard to say goodbye.” But who to?

 

Newt sighed. The kiss on the hand had been friendly at best, _plus_ Graves was from a very old family and as such would have been raised to believe that that was the polite way to say good bye.

 

 _To a lover/partner_ , Newt’s brain supplied unhelpfully. Plus, whenever he’d left for a trip Theseus had a similar ritual- home cooked dinner just the two of them. It was a brother thing, and given that Graves and Theseus were friends so it wasn’t really the biggest surprise that they seemed to have similar rituals.

 

Then again, Theseus had never laid out candles. He thought about asking Graves why they were there in the first place, but then again it was likely that, being from such an ancient family, Percival was probably accustomed to taking out candles when guests were over. He knew that his own family partook in the custom whenever they had large gatherings (but he was not a ‘large gathering’).

 

Or maybe… maybe there was a power outage? Ugh, he didn’t know. He took another mouthful of pasta. Mmmm, the pasta was amazing, he’d managed to piece together that Graves’s grandmother on his mother’s side was Italian and had migrated to the States to escape her overbearing family. There she had met Albert Fontaine (oh, haha, turns out the jerk who was dating Tina was Graves’s cousin) and had three children, Graves’s mother being the youngest.

 

Graves had three siblings, the oldest was his brother, Edward or ‘Ed’ as he’d been introduced, then his other brother Theodore (Graves said his name with annoyance for some strange reason and then he was born and finally their sister, Margaret aka ‘Margie’.

 

Newt took note of how Theodore was the only one whom Graves had introduced with their full name. He learned the man had a problematic girlfriend and was a Dueller. He lived pretty far away from the rest of his siblings, who all seemed to have centered themselves on the east coast.

 

Edward had followed in his father’s footsteps. He’d been an Auror (though left before becoming DMS) and after getting married and having children he retired and went to go teach at Ilvermorny. He was married with three kids.

 

And Margaret was a successful potion maker and had a shop in New Jersey. He knew that she was the mother of the baby sleeping soundly in the crib, and in addition to Millie she had one other child.

 

Newt talked about Theseus too. He mentioned that there were a lot of young women who were coming to ask for the War Hero’s hand in marriage, and that it was rather sad to watch Theseus send them each away.

 

 _‘If I meet a girl, it’s going to be a happy coincidence, not because she caught me with my guard down,’_ Theseus had once told him.

 

Graves had nodded, he completely understood how the man felt. He had had his fair share of suitors over the years, but something about being sought out had always turned him off, if anything he wanted to be the one giving chase. ~~Like he was doing now.~~

 

The end of the night came quicker than either of them would have wanted when Millie started crying. Oh, right. Much as he hated himself for it, he’d forgone giving the water-lover her bath in favor of setting everything up thinking he could get away with bathing her once Newt left.

 

“Oh, I think she wants to bathe,” Graves looked disheartened.

 

“I can help, if you want,” Newt blushed. He didn’t want to leave yet, for some strange reason Graves had that effect on him.

 

“Sure,” he had to admit that even with magic it was a chore to give the youngling a bath on his own. He was pretty sure Margie just took the child into the tub with her, but, uh, _no_. Uh uh, he wasn’t doing that. Too many risks. No ways.

 

 And that was the story of how Newt and Graves both ended up sopping wet whilst Millie sat in the bathroom sink playing with the magically induced bubbles that Newt had made in a desperate attempt to stop her from crying when she accidentally summoned the rug from under Graves because her rubber ducky had fallen on it.

 

Newt dried them off with a quick spell, but their clothes were still a little uncomfortable, so Newt decided to call it a night. His last night. He bit his lip, trembling the slightest bit in fear. This was wrong, this was _so_ wrong… but the odds of him seeing the other man again were slim and he had to know. After setting Millie down Graves came back to the living room to say goodbye. Newt didn’t know what compelled him to do it ~~probably the wine, he was a horrible lightweight~~ but one moment Graves opened his mouth to bid him farewell and wish him goodluck, the next moment Newt’s mouth was covering his.

 

Newt felt no response and withdrew, staring in horror at Graves’s shocked expression. He disapparated before Graves could react, before he could shout at him or hit him, though he doubted that Graves would do the latter.

 

He didn’t even bother apparating into Jacob’s living room, he just aimed for his room in the man’s apartment located directly above the bakery. He kicked the bed. What was he thinking? Graves was straight, right, so why did he do it? He heard some noises outside. Jacob must be home, he figured the man had probably gone on a date with Queenie and his suspicions were confirmed when he heard Jacob call out, “Newt, you home?”

 

“Yes!” he yelled back, doing his best to not let his voice crack.

 

“Alright! Sleep tight!”

 

“You too!”

 

Newt fell on his bed and let out a groan. Uuurgh, this was _so_ bad! Thank the gods above that he was leaving in six hours. He didn’t have enough time to sleep and even though he’d already fed his creatures he _really_ wanted to be around them. He only carried Pickett and the Swooping Evil around anymore and he kept them in the two pockets in his front coat just in case he had another run-in with Grindelwald.

 

He’d heard from Graves that Grindelwald had placed a hefty sum on Newt’s head- though the man wanted him delivered _alive_. Thankfully Newt had not had a run-in with either Grindelwald or one of his cronies _yet_ , but he was still cautious. He felt Picket move inside his pocket. He’d enchanted them to be spacious enough that his babies were comfortable, but also made it so that they couldn’t get out on their own unless the jacket was off of him.

 

He opened the pocket and watched as the Bowtruckle climbed up him to his shoulder. He reached out a small leafy arm and stroked Newt’s cheek. Newt sniffed, he hadn’t realized that there were tears in his eyes, the Bowtruckle’s small gesture touching him deeply.

 

All his things were packed and they didn’t have to apparate to the port for another five hours(he wanted to be there early to get a good cabin).

 

He ultimately decided against going to see his creatures. He didn’t want to bring his issues to them. He laid down, adjusting the alarm clock on his bedside. He set it to 4:30 am to ensure that he had enough time to get ready in the morning. He’d make up for the fact that he was only getting four hours and thirty minutes of sleep during the boat ride back.

.

 

Newt looked around. The port was busy and he could Jacob, Tina, Queenie… and Fontaine waving at him. He’d received warm hugs from three of the four and an awkward pat on the back by one of them. He saw many people walking around… what was he expecting? He’d clearly made the man upset with him, so why would he think that he’d be here to see him off?

 

He boarded the boat, suitcase in hand. He couldn’t wait to get back home for the first time in a long time.

.

 

Theseus was there waiting for him at the docks. The… issue with his chest was almost over, but he made sure that they didn’t hug too long… just in case…

 

He remembered when Queenie had found out. He’d begged her not to tell anyone and he was sixty-two percent sure that she’d lived up to that promise. Then again, it probably didn’t help that one rather long day when his shirt got a little damp, Queenie laughed and he blushed and passed it off as a sweating problem given that it had been addressed when Tina mentioned that his ‘shirt was a little damp.’

 

Why was there no anti-charm for lactation? Why put anyone through this torture? Worse, why prolong it?

 

He and his brother apparated into their shared apartment which had been passed down to the two of them by their great-grandfather. It was spacious enough that they didn’t really invade each other’s space or privacy. Three decently sized rooms, a bathroom, a toilet, a kitchen, a gigantic living room and some storage area.

 

Newt set down his suitcase in his room before joining Theseus for dinner. He had to admit, he missed New York, missed his friends, missed the baby (but he had breastfed her so that much was obvious). He missed someone else too, but he’d done something pretty bad to the man so he figured he didn’t really have the right to think about him.

.

 

Life with Theseus was great. He sent in his first draft to the publisher. It was going to be checked for errors and sent back before he sent it to them one last time. This was so exciting. He and Theseus had opened a bottle of champagne that Theseus had set aside for them when Newt had departed for his tour and now was the time to celebrate.

 

He’d gone to sleep with a smile on his face. Theseus had suggested that they go clubbing that night after the champagne, Newt had pointed out that it was getting pretty late whilst wondering when Theseus had gotten into going out at night.

 

Theseus had, of course, asked about his trip to the States. His eyes narrowed whenever Newt got to returning the baby, as though he knew that Newt was hiding the fact that he had, in fact, done more than just ‘met’ Graves.

 

Things were going along smoothly indeed.

 

He woke up with a smile and walked down the stairs (yup, double storey apartment), he was fine. If he ever went to New York again- and that was a big ‘if’- then he’d just make sure to avoid Graves at all costs. Problem solved.

 

He figured Theseus was about to wake up. Thankfully, their jobs at the Ministry didn’t start until 9 (granted Theseus was ‘on-call’ in addition to his shift, given that he was the DoMLE) in winter.

 

He heard a knock at the door and frowned. His parents weren’t supposed to be visiting this soon. Granted, his mother never could stay away, when she’d come over on Tuesday she’d insisted that they get a floo network and, unable to say no himself, he’d let Theseus explain to her why that was _never_ going to happen.

 

He opened the door and felt the chilly air breach the warm apartment. Mouth gaping when he saw who was standing at the door.

 

Percival _fucking_ Graves… and Millie swaddled in his arms.

 

Seriously thought, did the child not have parents? He was pretty sure she had parents?

 

“Newt!” Graves called out as Newt tried to close the door, intercepting it with his foot and spare arm. “Wait.”

 

“What?” Newt asked. “No- _why_? Why are you here?”

 

“Newt, I-I wanted to talk about what happened.”

 

“About what? L-look, I’m sorry I kissed you, it was a mistake, lesson l-learned.”

 

“You think it was a mistake?” Graves deflated just the tiniest bit causing Newt to frown in confusion.

 

“Well, yeah, didn’t you?”

 

“N-no.” Graves looked down. “No I didn’t, Newt.”

 

Newt’s heart beat faster. “Y-you don’t.”

 

“N-no, I don’t. But it doesn’t matter anyways, I guess. It’s alright Newt, thanks for- thanks for seeing me, I guess.”

 

“Wait!” Newt said, realizing that his voice came out just the tiniest bit louder than he’d intended it to. “Wait, don’t go. Why did-why did you come here?”

 

“I told you.”

 

“Y-yeah, but why did you want to talk about it if it didn’t upset you?”

 

“I just- I wanted to know if you had feelings for me?”

 

“And,” Newt bit his lip shyly and blushed, he couldn’t believe that he was doing this, but just like that night in the apartment he _had_ to know. “W-what if I did?”

 

Graves didn’t seem to expect that. “T-then, uh, then I’d tell you that I have feelings for you too, and that, um, I hope we can get coffee together some time,” Newt was pretty sure that he was imagining the light blush dusting the older man’s cheeks. “A-as more than, uh, as more than acquaintances.”

 

Newt gulped. “O-OK.”

 

Graves nodded. “A-alright, then. A-are you free this weekend?”

 

“’wt,” Millie looked half asleep. “’ewt.”

 

Percival blinked. “Um, I-I think… I think she just said her first words…”

 

Tears brimmed on Newt’s eyelids. Stupid. Fucking. Hormones. Damn that bloody cute baby who was trying so hard to say his name. Ugh, he needed to punch something immediately!

 

And just like that, the reverie was shattered.

 

“Oi! What the bloody hell’s going on there- oh, hi _Percival_ ,” Theseus eyed his best friend in the whole world suspiciously. “What’s going on here?”

 

Newt looked at Graves, a simple message, clear as day, passing through the gaze.

 

_He’s your best friend, you’re telling him._

.

 

“And that, Judy and Tom, is how _I_ got your parents together,” Millie smiled brightly down at her her younger cousins.

 

“Yeah right, you were only a baby, there was no way that you had anything to do with it,” Tommy snorted. A normal child might get mad at the accusation that she was lying, but Millie was far from a normal child, and she rather adored her six year old cousin.

 

“It’s true,” Judith Evelyn Volga Graves nodded. “Mommy said Millie was how they met properly, and she went on all of their first dates with them. You can look at the pictures.” And, likewise, Judy adored her older cousin, Millicent.

 

Graves walked in, slight bags under his eyes as to be expected when raising two magical children.

 

“Alright, kids, bed time!”

 

“OK,” they chimed.

 

Millie went up to her uncle. “Hey, uncle Percy, when’s Sammy gonna be back?”

 

“Your parents are probably picking him up tonight. Don’t worry, sweetest, you’ll see him tomorrow.”

 

“I don’t want to. He keeps making mean comments about my friend, Harold.”

 

“Oh,” Graves blinked, recognizing the masculine name. “Tell me everything about your friend, dear, starting with where he lives.”

 

“OK,” she smiled, glad that someone was willing to talk about her friend.

 

Graves smiled sinisterly. The best part was that he couldn’t get in trouble, since Newt was visiting Theseus waiting anxiously for what a gender-finding-charm said was his nephew to pop out of Theseus’s lovely wife’s uterus.

 

Oh, how he loved his husband.

 

-End

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on one from Percival's perspective, should certainly clear up some things if not horrify you beyond reason.


End file.
